A stalwart of local BBC news coverage in Kent is leaving his role after 25 years with the broadcaster.

BBC South East presenter Rob Smith has announced he will signing off on November 3.

Mr Smith joined the BBC in 1995 as a reporter on BBC Radio Kent and moved to BBC South East Today when it launched in 2001.

Among the thousands of the stories he has covered were the Shoreham Airshow disaster and investigations into sexual abuse in Church of England in Sussex.

He said: "This is a huge decision for me - I joined BBC Radio Kent back in 1995 when we still edited on quarter-inch tape with a razorblade and a chinagraph pencil.

"So much has changed. 25 years of making friendships, and building my life. I met my wife Gemma at Radio Kent, and our home and our family is here in Kent.

"There has been so much fun and laughter as well - alongside Polly Evans for many years, and then Natalie Graham more recently."

Mr Smith made his own headlines in 2008 when he sailed 2,000 miles around Britain in his yacht, raising £15,000 for charity, and again in 2018 when he canoed the Medway for Sport Relief.

Jason Horton, Head of the BBC in the South and South East, said: "Rob has been a fixture on our televisions and radios for more than two decades.

"His reassuring presence and outstanding skill as a journalist have won him plaudits across the region - and rightly so."

News of Mr Smith's departure comes in the same month BBC Radio Kent legend John Warnett announced he will be leaving the station.

Mr Warnett, who had been with the BBC for 30 years, is signing off after his last show today.

Read more: All the latest news from Kent